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Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 - 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist. Life Overview Landon, daughter of an army agent, was born in London. She was a prolific and, in her day, remarkably popular writer, but she wrote far too easily and far too much for permanent fame. Many of her poems appeared in the Literary Gazette, and similar publications. She also wrote a few novels, of which Ethel Churchill was the best, and a tragedy Castruccio Castracani (1837). She married a Mr. Maclean, Governor of a West African colony, where, shortly after her arrival, she was found dead from the effects of an overdose of poison, which it was supposed she had taken as a relief from spasms to which she was subject. She was best known by her initials, L.E.L., under which she was accustomed to write.John William Cousin, "Laidlaw, William," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910, 228. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 5, 2018. Family Landon was descended from a family once possessed of considerable landed property at Crednall in Herefordshire, which was lost in the South Sea bubble. The descendants took to the church, and Letitia’s great-grandfather is recorded on his monument to have employed his pen "to the utter confutation of all dissenters.' Her grandfather was rector of Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire. Her uncle, Dr. Whittinton Landon, who died on 29 Dec. 1838, held at the time the deanery of Exeter, to which he was a pointed in 1818, and the provostship of Worcester College, Oxford, to which he had been nominated in 1796 (cf. Gent. Mag. 1889, i. 212). Her father, John Landon, who in his youth had voyaged to Africa and Jamaica, was at the time of her birth a partner in Adair's army agency in Pall Mall.Garnett, 52. Her mother, whose maiden name was Bishop, was of Welsh extraction; her maternal grand-mother, an intimate friend of Mrs. Siddons, was thought to be the natural child of persons of rank. An only brother, Whittington Henry Landon (1804–1883), was a graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, and vicar of Slebech, Pembrokeshire, from 1851 to 1877 (Foster, Alumni Oxon.; Robinson, Merchant Taylors' School Reg.)Garnett, 53. Youth and education Landon was born in Hans Place, Chelsea, on 14 Aug. 1802. She received her earliest education at a school in Chelsea, where Miss Mitford and Lady Caroline Lamb were likewise educated, and was afterwards taught by masters. She very early exhibited an omnivorous appetite for reading, and was ready in acquiring all branches of knowledge except music and calligraphy. About 1815 her family removed to Old Brompton, and there made the acquaintance of William Jerdan, who exercised the most decisive influence on the future of the young poetess. "My first recollection," he says, "is that of a plump girl bowling a hoop round the walks, with the hoop-stick in one hand and a book in other, reading as she ran. The exercise was prescribed; the book was choice." Upon further acquaintance he thought her "a creature of another sphere, though with every fascination which could render her loveable in our everyday world." Career Inferior poetry to 'L.E.L.'s' would have found easy entrance to the Literary Gazette under such favorable prepossessions, and as her verse was not only good, but perfectly adapted to the taste of the day, she soon became a leading support of the periodical. Her first poem, "Rome," appeared on 11 March 1820, under the signature of 'L.' Before long "she began to exercise her talents upon publications in general literature," that is to review, and in Jerdan's words soon "did little less for the Gazette than I did myself," an assertion the more probable as Jerdan was an indolent editor.< Her labors as a reviewer were far from checking the facile flow of her fugitive verse, and she soon attempted poems of considerable compass. The Fate of Adelaide was published in 1821, The Improvisatrice in 1824 (6th edition in 1835), The Troubadour, with other poems (3 editions), in 1825, The Golden Violet in 1827, The Venetian Bracelet, with other poems, in 1829. She was also an incessant contributor to albums and other annuals, editing the Drawing Scrap Book from 1832. By the advice, it is said, of her friend, Mrs. S. C. Hall, she first attempted fiction in Romance and Reality, 1831, and Francesca Carrara, 1834. During this period she lived for the most part with elderly ladies, the Misses Lance and Mrs. Sheldon, both in Hans Place. 'L.E.L.'s' literary work in her later years was less copious than formerly, but included an unacted tragedy, Castruccio Castracani, 1837, The Vow of the Peacock, 1835, Traits and Trials of Early Life (supposed to be in part autobiographical), 1836, and Ethel Churchill, the best of 2 novels, 1837. Scandal The fascination of her appearance and conversation at the time is described by S.C. Hall. The other side of the picture is given in Chorley's Memoirs, where she is represented as a naturally gifted person, spoiled by flattery, and associated with a very undesirable literary set, and, though earning large sums by her pen, estimated by Jerdan at not less than 2,500l. altogether, harassed and worn by a continual struggle to support her family, who had become impoverished. The substantial truth of the latter picture is indubitable, and is sufficiently evinced by the cruel scandals which in her latter years became associated with 'L.E.L.'s' name, and, destitute as they were of the least groundwork in fact, beyond some expressions of hers whose tenor is only known from the admission of her friends that they were imprudent, occasioned her acute misery. They were, says S.C. Hall, employed in a letter to "that very worthless person Maginn," and "sufficed to arouse the ire of a jealous woman. To have seen, much more to have known Maginn, would have been to refute the calumny." It occasioned, nevertheless, the breaking off of an engagement between Miss Landon and an unnamed gentleman, said to be John Forster (cf Bates, Maclise Gallery), and seems to have driven her in mere despair into an engagement with another gentleman of distinguished public service and position, but with whom she can have had little sympathy, George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle. The marriage, delayed for a time by the rumor that Maclean had a wife living in Africa, took place in June 1838. Lytton Bulwer gave the bride away. On 5 July the wedded pair sailed for Cape Coast, arriving on 16 August. Death No circumstance respecting 'L.E.L.' has occasioned so much discussion as her sudden and mysterious death at Cape Coast Castle on 15 October 1838. That she died of taking prussic acid can hardly be disputed, though the surgeon's neglect to institute a post-mortem examination left an opening for doubt. That she was found lying in her room with an empty bottle, which had contained a preparation of prussic acid, in her hand seems equally certain, and the circumstance, if proved, negatives the not unnatural suspicion that her death was the effect of the vengeance of her husband's discarded mistress, while there is no ground in any case for suspecting him. There remain, therefore, only the hypotheses of suicide and of accident; and the general tone of her letters to England, even though betraying some disappointment with her husband, is so cheerful, and the fact of her having been accustomed to administer a most dangerous medicine to herself is so well established, that accident must be regarded as the more probable supposition. Writing As a poet Landon can only rank as a gifted improvisatrice. She had too little culture, too little discipline, too low an ideal of her art, to produce anything of very great value. All this she might and probably would have acquired under happier circumstances. She had genuine feeling, rich fancy, considerable descriptive power, great fluency of language, and, as Mr. Mackenzie Bell points out, a real dramatic instinct when dealing with incident. Her diffuseness is the common fault of poetesses, and in this and in other respects her latest productions manifest considerable improvement. If not entitled to a high place in literature upon her own merits, she will nevertheless occupy a permanent one as a characteristic representative of her own time, and will always interest by her truth of emotion, no less than by the tragedy and mystery of her death.Garnett, 54. The Zenana, and other poems, chiefly made up from contributions to annuals, appeared in 1839, immediately after her death, and a posthumous novel, Lady Granard, was published in 1842. Collected editions of her verse appeared in 1838 at Philadelphia, in 1850 and 1873 in London, the last edited by William Bell Scott. Recognition Among the poets of her time to recognize and admire her were Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who wrote "L.E.L.'s Last Question" in homage, and Christina Rossetti, who published a tribute poem entitled "L.E.L" in her 1866 volume The Prince's Progress, and other poems. Landon's reputation, while high in the 19th century, fell during most of the 20th as literary fashions changed, and her poetry was perceived as overly simple and sentimental. In recent years, however, scholars and critics have increasingly studied her work, beginning with Germaine Greer Greer, Germaine. Slip-shod Sybils. in the 1970s. Critics such as Isobel Armstrong argue that the seeming simplicity of poetry such as Landon's is deceptive, and that women poets of the 19th century often employed a method of writing which allows for multiple, concurrent levels of meaning.Armstrong, Isobel. "The Gush of the Feminine." A portrait of Landon by Maclise was engraved by Edward Finden for her Traits and Trials. Another portrait by Maclise is in the Maclise Portrait Gallery (ed. Bates). An engraving by Wright appeared in the New Monthly Magazine for May 1837. Publications Poetry *''The Fate of Adelaide: A Swiss romantic tale; and other poems. London: John Warren, 1821 **facsimile edition, Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1990. *The Improvisatrice, and other poems. London: Hurst, Robinson, 1824. *The Troubadour, Catalogue of pictures, and Historical sketches. London: Hurst, Robinson, 1825; Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, 1825; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1827. *The Golden Violet, and other poems. London: 1827. *The Venetian Bracelet, The lost Pleiad, The History of the lyre, and other poems. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1829. * ''The Easter Gift: A religious offering. London: Fisher, Son, & Co, 1832. *''The Vow of the Peacock, and other poems. London: Saunders & Otley, 1835 **Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1997. *''Poetical Works of Miss Landon. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1838. *''The Zenana, and minor poems of L.E.L.'' London & Paris: Fisher, 1839. *''Poetical Works''. (4 volumes), London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1839. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV. *''The Poetical Works of Mary Howitt, Eliza Cook, and L.E.L.'' (with Eliza Cook and Mary Howitt). Boston: Phillips & Sampson, 1849. *''Poems from "The Literary Gazette"'' (edited by F.J. Sypher). Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 2003. *''Poems from Annuals'' (edited by F.J. Sypher). Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 2006. Plays *''Castruccio Castrucana; or, The triumph of Lucca: A tragedy''. (published in Life and Literary Remains, Volume II) **Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 2000. Novels *''Romance and Reality''. (3 volumes), London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831; London: Ward & Lock, 1856. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. * Francesca Carrera. (3 volumes), London: Richard Bentley, 1834. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. **facsimile edition, Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1999. *''Traits and Trials of Early Life''. London: Henry Colburn, 1836. **Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1899. *''Ethel Churchill; or, The two brides''. (3 volumes), London: Henry Colburn, 1837. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. **facsimile edition, Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1992. * Duty and Inclination: A novel. (3 volumes), London: Henry Colburn, 1838. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. *''Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up appearances''. (3 volumes), London: Thomas Hodgson, 1842. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. **facsimile edition, Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 2002. Short fiction * "The Enchantress, and other tales," The Novelists Magazine 1 (1833): 90-118. *''Tales and Sketches'' (edited by Francis J. Sypher). Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1999. Non-fiction *''Critical Writings'' (edited by Francis J. Sypher). Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1996. Edited *''Heath's Book of Beauty'' (edited with Marguerite, Countess of Blessingdon). London: Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1833. Collected editions *''Works''. (2 volumes), Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1838. * Life and Literary Remains (edited by Laman Blanchard). (2 volumes), London: H. Colburn, 1841. Volume I, II. *''Complete Works. Boston: Phillips Sampson / New York: J.C. Derby, 1856. *''Selected Writings (edited by Jerome J. McGann & Daniel Riess). Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 1997. Letters *''Letters'' (edited by Francis J. Sypher). Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 2001. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Letitia Elizabeth Landon, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 15, 2013. Poems by L.E.L. #Revenge See also * List of British poets References * Armstrong, Isobel, and Joseph Bristow, eds. Nineteenth-Century Women Poets. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1998. * Blain, Virginia. "Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Eliza Mary Hamilton, and the Genealogy of the Victorian Poetess." Victorian Poetry 33 (Spring 1995): 31-51. Accessed through JSTOR on 21 September 2009. * Byron, Glennis. "Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1802-1838)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription only). September 2004. Accessed 18 September 2009. * . Wikisource, Web, Feb. 5, 2018. * Rappoport, Jill. "Buyer Beware: The Gift Poetics of Letitia Elizabeth Landon." Nineteenth-Century Literature 58 (March 2004): 441-473. Accessed through JSTOR on 21 September 2009. * Stevenson, Glennis. "Letitia Landon and the Victorian Improvisatrice: The Construction of L.E.L." Victorian Poetry 30 (Spring 1992): 1-17. Accessed through JSTOR on 21 September 2009. * Thomson, A.T., and Philip Wharton. The Queens of Society. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1860. * Wu, Duncan, ed. Romanticism: An Anthology. Third edition. New York: Blackwell, 2006. Notes External links ;Poems * Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802-1838 at the Poetry Foundation. *"[http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?action=GET&textsid=7624 The Female Head on the Left of The Hours]" * Selected Poetry of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838) ("Revenge") at Representative Poetry Online. * Letitia Elizabeth Landon at PoemHunter (62 poems) *Letitia Elizabeth Landon at Poetry Nook (63 poems) ;Books *L.E.L. at the Online Books Page ;About * Letitia Elizabeth Landon in the Encyclopædia Britannica *Letitia Elizbeth Landon at My Poetic Side * Life of Letitia Elizabeth Landon at Romantic Circles * Letitia Elizabeth Landon at English Poetry, 1579-1830 *"[https://www2.shu.ac.uk/corvey/CW3journal/Issue%20one/lillacrusifilla.html Letitia Elizabeth Landon’s Castruccio Castrucani: Gender through history]" at CW3 Journal, Sheffield-Hallam University. * Landon, Letitia Elizabeth Category:1802 births Category:1838 deaths Category:English novelists Category:English poets Category:Women of the Regency era Category:Women novelists Category:Women poets Category:English women writers Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets